A n i m a l W r i t
e s
© sm
The official
ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com Issue # 05/03/00
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ PrkStRangr@aol.com
~ MRivera008@aol.com
~ SavingLife@aol.com
THE NINE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1
~ Social Play & Morality In Animals
by Marc Bekoff --
bekoffm@spot.Colorado.EDU
2
~ Making A Difference
by "E Breakstone"
<queeniefound@hotmail.com>
3
~ What About Silk?
4
~ Robert Cohen Testimony to USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee
5
~ A one day conference: Eating for Health and Compassion Conference
6
~ Animal Protection Group Precipitates Historic Policy Change At NIH
7
~ Book Review by Steve Best - sbest1@elp.rr.com
8
~ POEM - All Things Bright & Beautiful
9
~ Quote To Remember
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Social Play & Morality In Animals
by Marc Bekoff
-- bekoffm@spot.Colorado.EDU
http://www.bouldernews.com/science/bekoff/16pscic.html
Many
mammals, especially youngsters, love to play, seeking out play with boundless
zeal and expressing joyful glee as they run about and wrestle, chase and bite
their friends. Playtime's safe time, mistakes are forgiven and apologies
accepted by others, especially when one player's a youngster who's not yet a
competitor for social status, food or mates.
Animal play is obvious, but animal social morality isn't. People often
wonder if some nonhumans are moral beings with codes of social conduct that
regulate their behavior in terms of what's permissible and what's not during
social encounters.
Group-living
animals provide many insights into animal morality. Individuals coordinate their behavior some mate, some hunt, some
defend resources, some accept subordinate status to achieve common goals.
Individuals know what they can and can't do, and the group's integrity depends
upon individuals agreeing that certain rules regulate their behavior. At any
given moment individuals know their place or role and those of other group
members.
Consider
pack-living wolves. For a long time researchers thought pack size was related
to food resources. Wolves typically feed on such prey as elk and moose, each of
which is larger than an individual wolf. Hunting such large ungulates
successfully takes more than one wolf, so it made sense to postulate that wolf
packs evolved because of the size of wolves' prey. Defending food might also be associated with pack-living.
However,
long-term research by David Mech showed pack size in wolves was regulated by
social, not food-related, factors. Mech discovered that the number of wolves
who could live together in a coordinated pack was governed by the number of
wolves with whom individuals could closely bond (social attraction factor)
balanced against the number of individuals from whom an individual could
tolerate competition (social competition factor). Codes of conduct, and consequentially packs, broke down when
there were too many wolves.
What
about social play and the development of social morality? It's thought that
during play, while individuals are having fun in a relatively safe environment,
they form social bonds, acquire different dominance ranks, and learn what they
can and can't do to others, how hard they can bite, how roughly they can
interact and how to resolve conflicts. They generalize these codes of conduct
to other group members and other situations. Individuals also learn to
anticipate what others will do in certain situations and to behave flexibly in
changing environments. As a result of lessons in social cognition and empathy
they learn what's "right" or "wrong" what's acceptable to
others the result of which is the development and maintenance of a well-oiled
social group. (Social morality doesn't mean other animals are "wrong"
when they kill for food, for they've evolved to do this.) My own research on
members of the dog family showed that youngsters of more-social species
(wolves) play more than youngsters of less-social species (coyotes, red foxes,
golden jackals).
Rules
of social play, interacting justly, transfer to codes of social conduct that
facilitate the smooth functioning of a social group. What could be a better
atmosphere in which to learn social skills than play, where there are few
penalties for transgressions?
Human
morality has some origins in the behavior of nonhuman animals. Social morality, knowing right from wrong
and behaving fairly, is an evolved trait shared by many of our animal kin. We
aren't alone or unique in the arena of social morality.
Marc
Bekoff (marc.bekoff@colorado.edu) teaches in Environmental, Population and
Organismic Biology at the University of Colorado. April 16, 2000
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Making A Difference
by "E
Breakstone" <queeniefound@hotmail.com>
I'll
never bring about world peace. I won't single handedly save the rain forest.
I'm not a brain surgeon and I'll never transplant an organ to save a life. I don't have the ear of a powerful
politician or world power. I can't end
world hunger. I'm not a celebrity, and God knows I'm not glamorous! I'm not
looked up to by millions around the world. Very few people even recognize my
name. I'll never win the Nobel prize. I'll never save the rain forest or end
global warming. There are a lot of
things that I'll never do or become.
But
today I placed a dog!
It
was a small, scared, bundle of flesh and bones that was dropped off in a
shelter by unfeeling people that didn't care what happened to it, but yet who
were responsible for it even having existence in the first place.
I
found it a home.
It
now has contentment and an abundance of love.
A warm place to sleep and plenty to eat. Two little boys have a warm fuzzy new friend who will give them
unquestioning devotion and teach them about responsibility and love.
A
wife and mother has a new spirit to nurture and care for.
A
husband and a father has a companion to sit at his feet at the end of a hard
day of work and help him relax and enjoy life.
And a sense of security, that when he is gone all day at work, that
there is a protector and a guardian in his home to keep watch over his family.
No,
I'm not a rocket scientist. But today, I made a difference!
[Editor's
Note: We felt this message was
important to include to show that even the small actions for animals count,
however we want to make mention that it isn't the animal that teaches
responsibility - it is the parents.]
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What About Silk?
The
silkworm (the caterpillar of the silk moth) can certainly feel and recoil and
writhe when injured. It is difficult to
say, in an animal so vastly different from us, whether this constitutes
suffering, but, as they are killed in the millions (by baking, steaming,
electrocution or microwaves) for yet another product we simply don't need,
surely it would be better to give them the benefit of the doubt?
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Robert Cohen Testimony to
USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee
The
following is testimony given by Robert Cohen on 3/10/2000
(Under-secretary
Eileen Kennedy had instructed each speaker to state his/her name, organization,
and source of funding -- Robert had three minutes to speak, and had no prepared
statement):
Our
next presenter is Mr. Robert Cohen.
MR.
COHEN: Thank you. I'm Robert Cohen. I'm with the Dairy Education Board.
We
have a shoestring budget, and I pay for the shoestrings.
I'd
like to ask you, since this is the first time I've ever been asked who funds
me, who funds you, Dr. Kennedy? Who funds you, Dr. Watkins and Lurie and
Huberto Garza who's listening on the telephone?
Dr.
Kennedy, you said that this is an open and transparent process. Americans know
how transparent it is.
Ms.
Lurie, you said there's a history of collaboration.
Dr.
Watkins, you travel America speaking to trade organizations. It's on the
internet. Native American, you go to South Dakota and North Dakota to Indian
Reservations and tell them how they need more milk and cheese and you're going
to give it to them.
This
is a transparent process.
We
know, Dr. Kennedy, that you're on the Board of Directors of a research
organization funded by Dannon Yogurt.
We
know Huberto Garza, that you get $500,000 a year from USDA as a line item. At
Cornell University you work for the Dairy Council. And Joanna Dwyer who worked
on this food dietary guideline committee worked for the dairy industry as did
Rachel Johnson and Roland Weinster and Richard Deckelbaum and it goes on and
on, Scott Grundy. All connections to the dairy industry. What's going on here?
The
first part, I want to tell you that we're not pleased about these conflicts of
interest. I sat with the Vice President of the United States yesterday and with
Senator Barbara Boxer, and we're all not pleased about these conflicts of
interest.
Can't
you come up with a committee that doesn't have these conflicts?
Milk.
Eighty percent of milk protein is a substance called casein, C-A-S-E-I-N. That's the glue they use to hold together
the wood in this podium. You eat casein you produce histamines you make mucous.
We've got soaring rates of asthma and diabetes, breast cancer.
The
New York Times last week had a full page article in their science section that
breast cancer rates in women are soaring. Thousands of things cause breast
cancer. The key factor in its growth,
the only hormone in nature exactly alike between two species, IgF-1 human and
cow, has been identified as the key factor in breast cancer.
We've
got our children in the schools. You talk about cholesterol and animal
fats. You know they're dangerous. You
take the combined intake of dietary cholesterol from cheese, milk, butter, ice
cream, for the average American its equal to the same amount of cholesterol
contained in 53 slices of bacon. That's today's intake. That's, 19,345 slices a year. By age 52 the
same cholesterol in a million slices of bacon.
You've
got to examine, you've got a hearing, an obesity hearing coming up in America
and you've got to examine the 29.2 ounces a day or 666 pounds per American of
milk and dairy products that we're eating and how intolerant that is,
especially to African Americans.
Robert
Cade, University of Florida, attributed one natural hormone in milk -
casomorphine as the reason for attention deficit disorder and autism. One out
of three kids in our Washington schools are on ritalin.
Thank
you, ladies and gentlemen.
DEPUTY
UNDERSECRETARY KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
And
the one question you directed to us, I will answer. We are funded by the American taxpayer.
http://www.notmilk.com/
The NOTMILK
Homepage! (MILK is a bad-news substance!)
Email:
notmilkman@notmilk.com
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A one day conference:
Eating for Health and Compassion Conference
Marist
College - Poughkeepsie, NY
17
June 2000
http://www.mhvs.org/conf17jun2000.html
Speakers:
Joel
Fuhrman, MD
Bob
LeRoy, RD
John
Morlino
Pamela
Rice
Diane
Beeny
You
can print the registration form off the internet.
Visit
our Web Site http://www.all-creatures.org
Email:
flh@all-creatures.org
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Animal Protection Group
Precipitates Historic Policy Change At NIH
Hundreds of thousands of animal lives will be spared
JENKINTOWN,
PA – Responding to two years of legal battles over a historically unprecedented
policy change, the National Institutes of Health has announced that government
funded researchers will be directed to shift to in vitro methods of producing
monoclonal antibodies except in limited circumstances. It is expected that
animals may be approved for use in less than 10% of the time. This policy
change has the potential to save up to one million animals every year currently
used like test tubes to produce these commonly used substances.
The
American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) first petitioned NIH in 1997, with the
goal of banning animal use in MAb production as has been done in the United
Kingdom and several other European countries. AAVS’ scientific affiliate, the
Alternatives Research and Development Foundation (ARDF), had funded successful
research to develop alternatives to the animal ascites method which causes
painful abdominal swelling and has other disadvantages. Many readily available
alternatives are already in use, especially since the announcements of
qualified bans in Europe in recent years.
"NIH
has taken a significant step with this response to our petition" says Tina
Nelson, Executive Director of AAVS. "They acknowledged that the
preponderance of scientific evidence points to the feasibility–interms of ease
of use, reliability, and cost – of the in vitro methods currently available for
the vast majority of MAb production." Ms. Nelson says that AAVS can
certainly declare a qualified victory, even though NIH refused to impose a ban.
"As a result of our forceful but informed advocacy and the widespread
discussion it generated at scientific conferences, adoption of alternatives has
come to be seen as a matter of public policy, not simply the discretion of the
individual researcher."
NIH’s
assertion that the in vitro method should be considered the "default
method" from now on is applauded by AAVS and ARDF, but concerns continue
that NIH enforcement will be half-hearted. Nelson says, "We hope this
announcement is a sign that they’ll allocate the needed resources to ensure
that researchers quickly adopt the in vitro method." For its part, the
ARDF will take the initiative by sending thousands of MAb In Vitro Conversion
Kits to members of every Institutional Animal Care ad Use Committee early next
year.
Much
work lies ahead in facilitating the conversion to non-animal production, but
ARDF Director John McArdle is confident that the end is in sight. He says,
"United States researchers are finally joining their European colleagues
in ending one of the most painful and unnecessary procedures routinely carried
out on laboratory animals."
Source:
AAVSONLINE@aol.com
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Book Review
by Steve Best
- sbest1@elp.rr.com
Ethics
Into Action: Henry Spira and the Animal Rights Movement
by Peter Singer
Rowman and Littlefield, 1998
Although
he died last year, the contributions of Henry Spira to the animal rights
movement will endure. Ethics into Action exemplifies the reciprocal influences
Peter Singer and Spira had on one another, since Singer's 1975 book Animal
Liberation was a galvanizing force for Spira, and Spira's ideas were compelling
enough for Singer to write about his life and struggles.
Singer's
book also offers a new perspective on the formation of the animal rights
movement in the 1970s and 1980s, describing Spira's importance and his
differences with groups like PETA and the ALF. Moreover, Singer outlines
Spira's methods as a model for animal rights groups and any movement to
effectively achieve their political goals. Finally, he upholds Spira's life as
an example of how an individual can gain deep existential meaning in a violent
and soulless world through compassionate struggle for the rights of oppressed
and powerless beings.
Spira
began his political career in the civil rights movement, as a carnivore and
speciesist with no liking for animals. But all this changed when a friend's cat
warmed him over, when he became aware of the plight of animals, and when he
read Singer's powerful book, Animal Liberation. Spira's transpecies political
philosophy is summarized in his statement, "If you see something that's
wrong, you've got to do something about it."
So
here is an individual seeking to translate ethics into action. Where, Singer
argues, animal rights groups had been completely ineffective in challenging
issues like cosmetic testing on animals, Spira's intelligent tactics brought
him quick and dramatic results on numerous issues. Among other things, his
tactics involved modest beginnings with small, winnable issues; advancing
progress step-by-step rather than through an all-or-nothing attitude; winning
over animal abusers to his side by engaging them as human beings rather than as
monsters; and when talks and various pressure tactics fail, bring attention to
issues through bold advertisements that arouse public indignation about animal
cruelty.
And
so Spira began his animal activism by informing the public of senseless sex
experiments the New York Natural History Museum was performing on cats. This
was quickly stopped. He moved on to challenge corporations that test cosmetics
and other substances on animals. Here his brilliant tactics involved getting
them to donate small fractions of their profit to developing alternatives and,
in quick succession, Revlon, Avon, Bristol-Myers stopped all testing. The
product label "Not Tested on Animals" so common today owes much to
Spira's work.
As
he realized that "animal rights and eating animals don't mix," and
that billions more animals were killed for food consumption than medical
experimentation, Spira's attention shifted to the plight of farm animals. He
took on Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds, the FDA, USDA, and other giant
industries. Through provocative ads (such as merging a KFC box with a toilet
bowl), he educated the public about the dangers of meat and cruelty toward
animals, and moved some of these food giants toward reforms.
Not
everyone agreed with Spira's reform methods and often friendly working
relations with the "enemy," but no one can deny his contributions, as
he saved and improved the lives of millions of animals.
Perhaps
the most important lesson Singer's book offers is that one person --
compassionate, committed, and intelligent -- indeed can make a huge difference
in this world. Throughout history this has been proven, and to the long list of
world-shakers, we can add the names of Peter Singer and Henry Spira.
This review originally appeared in "Life Giving
Choices", the newsletter of the Vegetarian Society of El Paso (VSEP).
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POEM
All things
bright and beautiful,
All creatures
great and small
All things
wise and wonderful,
The Lord God
made them all.
Each little
flower that opens,
each little
bird that sings,
he made their
glowing colors,
he made their
tiny wings.
The
purple-headed mountain,
the river
running by,
the sunset,
and the morning
that brightens
up the sky.
The cold wind
in the winter,
the pleasant
summer sun,
the ripe
fruits in the garden,
he made them
every one.
He gave us
eyes to see them,
and lips that
we might tell
how great is
God Almighty,
who has made
all things well.
--Cecil
Frances Alexander 1848
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Quote To Remember
I ask people why they have deer heads on
their walls.
They always say because it's such a
beautiful animal.
There you go.
I think my mother is attractive, but
I only have photographs of her.
Source:
joef@pdq.net
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
Susan Roghair
- EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights
Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl
33673-7053
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal
Rights Online=-
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boards:
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Resource Site
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